StayStrongAppie - How one of the greatest talents of Europe turned out to be only human

Today was a sad day for everyone involved with Dutch football, especially here in Amsterdam. Last week the team of Ajax Amsterdam played a pre-season friendly in Austria against a German team. Because it was a friendly game there was a change of 9 players during halftime. One of the new players was the 20-year old Abdelhak Nouri, an ever cheerful and positive young man who has been playing for Ajax since the age of 7. He was considered one of the greatest talents in Europe.

Last week however, during that match...after no more than 25 minutes of playing in the second half, Nouri (better known as Appie) suddenly collapsed and fell down on the pitch. At first the referee, the players and everyone watching had no idea what was going on but soon it became clear something was seriously wrong. Appie was moving slowly but hardly breathing. After a few moments medical assistance rushed on the pitch and quickly he was being reanimated. 

Everyone was in shock, the players had no idea what had happened and were clearly very emotional. Even though it was a meaningless friendly game, it was still being broadcast live on television. After a few minutes the broadcast ended and all viewers were left in the dark, literally. The first reports weren't good, he was being reanimated for a long time and then rushed to the nearest hospital in a trauma helicopter. 

Every day since this had happened had been filled with a lot of questions and very few answers. He had been artificially put to sleep to reduce the risk of doing more damage to his body. The reason of his sudden collapse: his heart had failed him. Of course every professional player goes through extensive medical testing but there were no prior signs of heart problems with him.

Not a day went by without reports on his condition and although stable, he was still very far away from being out of danger. After 2 days good reports came out that he was out of life threatening danger, however it was still unclear whether or not he had suffered any braindamage.

The 5th day after it had happened, today, was a day of sad news. After a lot of testing the doctors came to a conclusion that he had suffered severe and permanent braindamage due to a lack of oxygen. Even though they tried staying positive, they feared he would never be able to recover from this. During the past days, everyone was afraid he would never be able to play football on a high level again. Today however, realization struck that this diagnose would mean that this young man would probably never be able to speak, walk, eat and basically do anything that makes us feel alive ever again.

Needless to say, everyone was devestated. His family, his friends, his teammates, his fans...

This young man that was already desired by teams like Paris Saint Germain, Manchester City, Barcelona and many more...was a great footballplayer, but a great human first. Young Appie was known to be a role model for many youngsters in the Dutch community. He made his debut in the first selection of Ajax last year and scored his first official goal within minutes. He became the ultimate fan favorite after that, but he already had a lot of admirers due to his humble and down-to-earth mentality. He was a family man, always praising and thanking his parents for everything that he had accomplished. His appreciation and positive attitude made him very popular with everyone who had ever heard of him.

Unfortunately, although everything is still very much unclear and he is still being kept asleep, his life is pretty much over. It is not about his career anymore, it is not about money anymore, it is about the loss of a great human being.

No matter how much we idolize million dollar earning athletes, no matter how much we cheer them on, no matter how great their achievements...they are still just human. 

That makes you wonder, why him? Why such a positive young man? Why did he deserve this? He didn't, no one does. Yet it shows us how fragile life is. Of course I realize he is not alone, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people suffer from heart failure every day. Let alone how many people suffer from diseases or any other conditions. 

Life is unpredictable, life is fragile, life is unfair.

Appie, you will be remembered for the great human being that you were.

StayStrongAppie